February 10th – Skorn, Howling Fjord
Skorn is a large vrykul fortress in Howling Fjord, inhabited by the Winterskorn tribe. The tribe is led by Bjorn Halgurdsson.
The Vrykul
The vrykul are a massive force within Northrend and are native to the Southeastern region of Howling Fjord.
Their size means they are categorised as “half-giant”, which could either mean that they are a mid-point in evolution between giants and humans, or that they have come about from the inter-breeding of giant and human. (Not too sure how that would work, myself).
More about this further down.
The vrykul have lost much of their earlier power and territory. In ancient times, their civilisation spread across the land, and was prosperous. However one day thei simply disappeared, leaving everything deserted. It is only with the appearance of the Alliance in Valgarde, and their building of a settlement, that the vrykul have started to return to their homeland.
The vrykul are led by King Ymiron, who is based in Utgarde Keep. This is the current base of the vrykul and it is from here that the vrykul push out against the alliance and horde that are encroaching on their land.
The reason for both their disappearance and reappearance is unknown, but they seem to have accepted the lich king as their leader, referring to him as their “death-god”.
Their nature is one of brutality, and they are served by worgs as hunting dogs and the mysterious proto-drake race as mounts. They are magicians, but their magic makes no sense to Azerothian magicians, and they frown on manual labour.
As adventurers progress through Northrend, they discover more about the vrykul ancestry. The titans were the gods of the vrykul, and Ymiron and his advisers believed that after they had been abandoned by the titans, all children born by vrykul women were disfigured, deformed and sickly. He demanded that they all be destroyed, but some parents hid their children, spiriting them away to grow up somewhere far, far from Northrend.
It could certainly be implied from this that these sickly, runt-like children could be the ancestors of Azeroth’s children now. Thoralius the Wise, a draenei you may encounter, actually states that “There is no extinct “missing link” to humans as the Explorers’ League proposed. The vrykul are the missing link. They are the progenitors of humanity”.
I’ve decided that I’m going to finish each of my blog posts from now on with a song, whatever it is that I’m listening to while I blog. Just to make things a little more musical…
